Dreaming of Hickory

Benny Profane wrote

I think a lot of westerners do it out of boredom. They live a hybrid life of mostly lift serviced when snow is good, and backcountry when snow is fading into the past. Also, it's awesome aerobic exercise, on a day that you just want awesome aerobic exercise. You know, to be even better in shape for the first chair on the powder morning.
The East? It's gotta snow more here for that kind of boredom to register.

There is some truth to this, most people that I know that have lived out west don't go when the snow sucks. I sure don't. That's what bikes are for. :)

The experience of backcountry skiing though goes beyond exercise or finding good snow. Ya that's part of it but a bigger part of it to me is exploration, here you can go out and ski in places that it's likely no one else has and even if they have you still feel like a pioneer. I bet you can do that all over Dacks if you are motivated. Lots of slides I think. But....as mentioned I understand my thinking isn't shared by the skiing majority. I think it's a natural progression of things though, if you do this for most of your life you branch out and explore the different avenues the sport can offer. Plus, I just can't get myself to buy the 75+ dollar lift tickets, that's insane.

Snowballs wrote

sig wrote

i would take a bath. lose $100,000 grand a year. there is no plan. why such a hater of a mountain you have never skied?

I thought so. " there is no plan " HAHAHAHA! You're clueless. You run your mouth, have no reason to do so and have nothing, absolutely nothing to back up your previous post @ me. Your only reason was to be a punk. Congrats,  you succeeded !

I don't hate Hick, never said anything like that. Just said it needs snow making and a chair, as have others in this thread. Catching on yet ?

Furthermore, I have skied Hick. See what happens when you assume sig ? It proves what a dumb dumb you are sig. No doubt you're very used to that.

obviously the hickory vibe did not rub off on you.

raisingarizona wrote

 I guess it's like watching all of the species dying off with the climate shift. The enviro nuts keep crying about how we need to save them but really it's just the current evolution of things. It is what it is.

There may be some hope for some endangered species though. Saw on the news last night how a Cornell researcher figured out how to do in-vitro fertilization for beagles. He claimed it will help preserve endangered breeds of dogs. Maybe someday it could help other species. Sure it would take a mass effort but hope has audacity.

Hickory needs snowmaking and a chair. 10, 15 million dollars (?),,,, so it's unlikely. Like harv once wrote about bike races, some people like it torturous. The harder the better. Hickory left ungroomed would be right up their alley, IMO. With it's way cool hill and some advertising challenging the hotshots, it could be a hit. Some ski rag coverage in this vein would help a lot. Anybody who is into this kinda skiing definitely raves about Hick after skiing it WHEN THERE'S SNOW.

I've met people who've skied  Hick back in the day. They all loved it and all talk about huge moguls and more. They all puff out their chests and say " I grew up or used to ski Hickory. I can ski anything " I've met 50 yr old women who did this. They're always proud of it and they always loved it.

Bottom line,,,, common denominator....People who have skied Hickory when there was good snow coverage LOVED IT.
Others say " if I ever win the lottery I'd buy it ".  MC2 for one. Why ? Cause it's a great, unique area.



Hickory...... It's hard !!!

RA understands the western BC skier pretty well. Hike up to the top of some ridge covered in several hundred inches of snow and nothing but open bowl or sparse trees below. Take this to the Daks, you can get a nice wide slide with the occasional water fall or blue ice flow, very tight trees, throw in some thick brush and your lucky if you have 30" of snow to cover the Krummholz which is sure to get you if the spruce traps don't first - oh, not to mention the avalanche danger to boot. That's the beauty in the ADK BC, it's got something for everybody. It's only partially about the skiing, looking out on the top of Algonquin, Marcy, of Gothics on a frosty spring morning, waiting for the corn - good lord, that's what you live for. I will remain grumpy until this god awful weather changes, I swear - God is punishing us for even considering Trump.

Image what God will do if trump is elected.

Sit back and laugh at the mortals and their follies.

That is what I really meant to say.   The Ratio is higher then Hunter and Platty.

sirskier wrote

That is what I really meant to say.   The Ratio is higher then Hunter and Platty.

I think Hunter West nips it. The HSQ on West is about 3500 ft long and 1300 vertical feet. A straight line from the bottom of the Hickory handle tow to the top of poma 2 is about 3500 feet and around 1200 vertical feet. Poma 2 is pretty steep at about 2000 feet in length and 800 vertical feet.

Argue all you want, but the bottom line is, Hickory is still alive. Yes Hickory does have someone to provide support, but I'll take it.  I got about 10 excellent powder days there last year, all on weekends, when the other areas were tracked up in 30 minutes.  They were open from the first weekend in January until late March last year, weekends only.  Benny asked how many days people skied Hickory in the last 10 years.  I don't count, but I'd estimate I have 60+ days in that time.   I know the regulars have even more.
Lifts have been inspected and the trails have been cut.   All they need is snow now!

That was sort of a trick question, because the place was dormant for, what, maybe five years after the co-op went belly up, and then it didn't open at all for two years due to lack of snow. This year is looking bad. Nice try, though.

No doubt about it, this year looks bad.  Last year was exceptionally stellar.  My day count includes a lot of days skinning during the 5 years Hickory was shut down.  So some years might only have 1 day, but last year was 10.  The bottom line is, while not fitting any business model, it is still open and offering fantastic skiing when the conditions dictate.